Drive-by shooting kills 4 police on outskirts of Egypt's capital near historical site

CAIRO – An Egyptian official says a drive-by shooting on the outskirts of Cairo near a famed historical site has killed four policemen.

Maj. Gen. Khaled Shalaby says masked gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire Saturday on a security checkpoint near Saqqara, home to the 4,600-year-old Step Pyramid.

Security forces cordoned off the area. No one immediately claimed the attack.

Egypt has been confronting a growing insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula led by a local Islamic State affiliate, which has mainly targeted soldiers and police in Sinai, but has also claimed attacks elsewhere in Egypt. The IS affiliate claims to have brought down a Russian passenger plane last month, killing all 224 people on board.

Militant attacks in Egypt spiked after the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.